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Friday, June 1, 2012

Same-sex romance wins last Orange Prize


"Homer would be proud of her."
-- Joanna Trollope, Chair of judges



Debut US novelist Madeline Miller has won the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction with The Song of Achilles, a story of same-sex romance set in the Greek age of heroes.

"This is a more than worthy winner - original, passionate, inventive and uplifting," said Joanna Trollope, chair of judges.

The £30,000 prize recognises English language fiction written by women.

This year's prize is the last to carry the Orange name, after the mobile services company announced last week it was ending its 17-year sponsorship.

Miller is the fourth American author in a row to win the annual prize.

The other novelists on the shortlist were former winner Ann Patchett for State of Wonder, Esi Edugyan for Half Blood Blues, Anne Enright for The Forgotten, Georgina Harding for Painter of Silence, and Cynthia Ozick for Foreign Bodies.

Miller received her prize - and a bronze figurine known as "a Bessie" - at an awards ceremony at London's Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday evening.

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